KOTA KINABALU – Sabah Tourism, Culture, and Environment Ministry is promoting Sandakan as the “gateway to nature and wildlife”, said its minister Datuk Christina Liew.
Liew (Api-Api–PKR) said to boost the tourism sector in Sandakan, the Sabah Tourism Board (STB) has been promoting the area as one of the must-explore destinations, especially to the international market.
“Sandakan has been promoted to prestigious, high-end American and European companies, the National Geographic and Abercrombie & Kent.
“High-profile tourists were flown with private jets to explore the world, and Sandakan is one of the destinations chosen for their stop in Malaysia,” she told the Sabah assembly sitting today in her winding-up speech.
She said the STB has created a database in the form of pamphlets titled “Things to Do in the District of Sabah” where tourism destinations, products, and places that are based on local community and history are listed, and it includes Sandakan.
She said the ministry does not have the tourists figure for the district, but the Turtle Islands in Sandakan has received 1,090 domestic tourists and 3,384 foreign tourists, while the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre has received 89,516 visitors last year.
The Sugud Island Marine Conservation Area received 1,446 visitors, while the Kinabatangan wildlife sanctuary received 5,448 visitors last year.
Meanwhile, Liew said that her ministry is addressing the problem of wild monkeys in Sandakan through the Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD); setting up monkey traps and monkey security teams in areas concerned to control the population of monkeys in the district.
From January last year until April this year, a total of 57 monkeys have been captured in Sandakan.
The SWD is also drafting the Sabah Monkey Management Plan to control the population of monkeys in the whole state.
As for the human-crocodile conflict, Liew said integrated action has been taken to reduce the population of crocodiles in high-populated areas, including putting up warning signboards, and holding awareness programmes on activities to avoid in high-risk areas. –The Vibes, May 24, 2023
